If you type the word “innovation” into a Google search, you’ll get 125 million results in under half a second. Awesome? Yes. Overwhelming? Absolutely. In a world where information is accessible and expansive, how do we as educators begin to understand what innovation looks like in a focused, applicable format?

A little something I whipped up, inspired by Alan November‘s conversation around redesigning the way we use technology in the classroom. Not necessarily a new idea, but a distinction that I think is often missing in classrooms: the difference between automating tasks and assignments with technology versus innovating the classroom practices.

Here are the slides and the notes from my talk today at CNIE in beautiful Kamloops, British Columbia. Initially I wanted to talk about some of the differences between the cultures of education and Silicon Valley and how "innovation" is framed by both. Instead, I found myself a heading down a rabbit hole with the etymology of the word "innovation." What I fear is that we talk about "innovation" without any referent except that somehow -- magically and inevitably -- "the new" is good, technology is good, technology is progress. We conflate "innovation" with positive social change.

If we know that X does Y when Z, is it possible that A does Y when Z, too? That’s often how innovations get their start, in the lab and elsewhere: by taking a familiar starting point and using it as...

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